Sharon Risedorph Photography

Sharon Risedorph Photography

Russell L. Meeks
This freestanding healthcare building is welcoming to patients from the outside and supportive of their needs on the inside. It is located at the terminus of the main entrance drive into the medical center, behind a fountain with natural boulders. The client wanted the building to be the jewel of the medical center. The landscape materials used were healing herbs, selected for their colors and fragrances so that the psychological healing environment begins even before the patient enters the building.

Roof forms reach up toward the sky to express the relationship between man and nature. The concrete walls of the linear accelerator vaults are stained to a warm stone color, washed by daylight from a skylight above. Corridors admit light at the ends to reinforce the relationship with the exterior. Interior finishes include wood and natural-fiber carpeting. Colors were selected for warm tones, in natural patterns.

Russell L. Meeks
The corridor system provides a clear separation between patient and caregiver areas. This enhances the staff and visitor feeling of well-being and comfort. The clarity of the circulation system keeps patients at ease as they move through the building. A separate entrance is provided for nonambulatory patients who are transported to the building for treatment via ambulance.

The vault walls are made of concrete and are as much as 6 feet thick. To save space between the vaults, a relatively new product called Leadite was used—consisting of lead blocks that lock together. Using this product reduced the wall thickness by 4 feet.

Project category: New construction (completed April 2003)

Chief administrator: Ranu Grewal-Bahl, MD, (510) 732-6930

Firm: Meeks, Coates + Eaton Architects, Inc., (415) 693-9234

Design team: Russell Meeks, AIA, Senior Principal, Project Designer; Michelle Eaton, AIA, ASLA, Principal, Landscape Designer; Kalt Swartzkopf, AIA, Project Architect (Meeks, Coates + Eaton Architects, Inc.); Diana Kissil, ASID, Interior Designer (Sasaki Associates, Inc.)

Photography: Russell L. Meeks; Sharon Risedorph Photography

Total building area (GSF): 6,500

Construction cost/sq. ft.: $340

Total cost (excluding land): $2,200,000